Sorrowful Dream
by Raziel3426
Summary: Jaune wakes up from a dream depicting what he assumes is his death. Mostly Arkos with some White Rose for fun.
1. Chapter 1

He felt his entire body shake as his opponent's mace slammed into his shield, and as he saw them wind up for another attack, quickly sidestepped the overhead swing and slashed at his opponent twice. Once aimed for the legs to disable and slow his opponent, the other aimed for his stomach to hopefully slow him down through pain. Only one attack went through though, and it wasn't his. Jaune watched as his enemies mace swung down, his reaction time barely being fast enough to raise his shield up to block but his shield didn't matter. He felt and heard his arm snap as his shield fell to the ground. A feeling of dread welled in his chest as he realized that he might die here, but that feeling quickly went away when he jerked awake in his bed.

Jaune couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen given his dream that night. He ended up skipping breakfast because he couldn't get the wet snapping sound of his arm out of his head and it ruined his appetite. He sat in Oobleck's history class wondering what that dream could have meant. He couldn't get a good view of his opponent in the dream but he felt like he recognized them from the school. Oobleck's over-enthusiastic approach to teaching seemed to cause Jaune to be able to tune out what he was hearing, and even though it would've helped him, seeing as Oobleck was lecturing about tactics used during the Great War, Jaune couldn't help but not pay attention. Pyrrha was sitting next to him, and she had her own problems paying attention. She kept noticing and wondering why Jaune was so out of it today, from when he refused to eat pancakes with her and the rest of their team, to now when he wasn't paying attention to the one thing that he enjoyed about history. She nudged his arm and whispered to him. "You realize we're discussing Fabian tactics right? The ones that we had to use to win the Great War."

Jaune very quickly responded "Yeah, Fabian tactics. You run from your opponent, who has displayed military prowess over you, and fight in the shadows to slowly overcome them while suffering little losses on your end. it utilizes the old thought that you can win a battle not by beating your opponent but by making them run out of supplies and demoralizing them to the point that they turn on their commanding forces."

"Mr. Arc, while your knowledge is commendable," Oobleck seemingly warped over to Jaune's desk and continued, "it is **my** class and I do not enjoy your interruption. However since you seem so knowledgeable on Fabian strategy, I'd like a two page essay on my desk tomorrow regarding it's use in historic wars."

Jaune sighed and dropped his head on his desk resulting in a resounding thud. Pyrrha rested a hand on his shoulder and silently apologized. Jaune remained quiet for the rest of the class still pondering his dream.

"So what's going on? You've had this thousand yard stare, and have been ignoring almost everyone and everything for most of the day." Pyrrha interrupted Jaune's pondering again.

"Wha? What are you talking about? I just didn't feel like having breakfast…" Jaune lingered on that last item. "I've just been feeling out of sorts lately." He didn't think that anyone else would want to hear about his dream, or the fact that he's just been feeling uncomfortable around people since it. He still couldn't think of anyone who had been in his dream and it unsettled him.

"Jaune, you realize you can tell me what's bothering you no matter what, right? I'm your teammate." _Even though I want to be more_ , she thought to herself. "And it doesn't help the rest of our team to have our leader unsettled and not paying attention in class. especially during a lecture on tactics that we should know for combat."

"Fabian tactics are for long drawn out wars. They would have no effect on helping us against Grimm, only against people." Jaune latched onto the last part hoping to get himself out of this conversation. "Either way, I really don't feel like talking about it now. I'll come eat lunch with everyone else if it'll make you happy."

"Fine, but you're going to tell me what's bothering you tonight or I won't give mercy when we're training." Pyrrha teasingly mentioned, hoping that he would tell her.

"Yeah, sure. Sorry." Jaune rubbed the back of his head rather apathetically. "We should get to lunch before Yang teases us about being alone too long." He blushed while chuckling a little bit thinking about the last time she teased them. Yang was relentless, and didn't stop teasing them for nearly a week.

"Oh, yeah…" Pyrrha blushed and started to walk away, _I wish he would just hold my hand_ , she thought while making her way towards the cafeteria.

Yang sat with the rest of her team eating pizza in the cafeteria. "I told you they'd deliver to the school, and even if they didn't we could've just asked Ru~ to go pick them up for us."

"I would've done it in a heartbeat, sis!" Ruby managed to say while stuffing her face with the pepperoni pizza Yang had bought for them. "It's so much better than the school lunches!" she said with a satisfied sigh after devouring her third slice.

"I will admit that it's quality is quite high." Blake said reaching for her second slice, only to have it taken away by Ruby.

"Ruby, don't steal people's food. It's not nice." Weiss scolded Ruby for doing so as she guiltily gave Blake the piece of pizza she had stolen.

"Sorry Blake... " Ruby eked out. "Oh hey Jaune and Pyrrha finally decided to show up." Ruby noticed them as they walked into the cafeteria ten minutes later than expected, seeing as their other teammates had already shown up and were eating the pizza that they brought in. She waved to let them know where they were seated.

"Oh? Where were the lovebirds this time?" Yang tauntingly asked as Jaune and Pyrrha walked over to where the rest of the group was.

"Yang…" Pyrrha said somewhat threateningly while staring the blonde down.

"What I was just joking around!" Yang retaliated, "I'm sorry though, I don't mean to be mean about it." she added after Ruby gave her a glare.

"Eh it's fine, I can take it." Jaune said "Granted that might be the only thing I can take." he added on with a slight laugh.

"Here have some pizza, to amend our teammate's transgressions." Weiss said while offering Jaune some of the food they were eating.

"Don't mind if I do." Jaune reached over and grabbed a piece, making sure to watch for Ruby stealing his piece.

The rest of lunch went by pretty quickly through Jaune's perspective, what with Nora's over-exaggerated stories, Ruby enrapturement with them, and Ren correcting Nora on points where she overemphasized. He thought back to the dream and figured that it probably meant nothing.

After lunch, he ended up having to leave his team and headed off to math class with Weiss and Ruby. Normally Jaune tried to talk to Ruby about strategy during their walk down there, but today he was silent. Ruby noticed Jaune frowning about something on their trek towards the dreaded class and just stepped in front of him and went "Nope! No time to be sad or grumpy today, Jaune. At least not until after math."

"What? I'm not." Jaune, rather shocked, replied quickly. Ruby examined his face closely after he said that and silently decided that she wouldn't pry further.

"Well I'm going to be sad after this class." Ruby mentioned. "That is unless Weiss helps me study for the upcoming test! Please?" She looked over at Weiss with widened eyes begging for help.

"Oh fine, but don't come running to me on the test day asking for notes. I won't give them to you this time. Studying is work and it does get results." Weiss chided Ruby while ruffling her hair.

"But work's hard Weiss!" Ruby whined. "I still have no idea why they're having us learn math, how does math help with killing Grimm?"

Neither Jaune or Weiss felt like answering that question so Ruby just let it drop, seeing as they were directly in front of the classroom's door. They stepped in and were greeted by slips of paper being on all of the desks and 'Pop Quiz!' written on the blackboard.

"Why have you forsaken me?" Ruby asked while facing the ceiling, elongating each word.

"Oh relax Ruby you'll do fine." Weiss reassured the dark-haired girl while moving around the classroom to go to her seat.

"Oh man, I was so distracted this morning I forgot to even study…" Jaune lamented as he walked towards his own desk.

"Distracted by what? Pyrrha?" Ruby winked at Jaune.

"What? No, something else." Jaune, as usual was flustered by anyone mentioning anything about him and Pyrrha.

"Ah, well then. Best of luck Jaune! Lord knows I'll need it." Ruby sighed as she moved to her seat.

Their teacher walked in shortly after Ruby arrived at her desk and said "You all have 30 minutes to complete this quiz. It's only 3 questions, and no multi-parts either."

"Do we get a formula sheet?" Ruby asked while raising her hand.

"Ms. Rose, I'd ask you to wait for your hand to be completely raised before asking your question, but I know it'd be pointless." He chuckled and then continued, "I'll write up the formulas you should need on the board, so you should be able figure it out pretty easily."

"Thanks Professor Argenteus!" Ruby cheerfully said and started to focus on her quiz, figuring that it'd take her a bit longer to take care of it than most other people. Math wasn't her strongest subject, and Weiss wasn't helping, what with her insistence on cuddling Ruby when they should be studying.

It ended up taking Ruby thirty-five minutes to finish the quiz, but Professor Argenteus knew that she had trouble with his lessons, and felt like not pressuring her about the other five minutes. Weiss ended up finishing the quiz after fifteen minutes, and it took Jaune twenty-one minutes to finish it up. After receiving the last of the tests Argenteus started a lecture that went on for the last hour of the class, handing out a packet for notes afterwards, and made sure to hand a marked one along with additional problems to Ruby. "For you to practice. Math is just like everything else, it gets easier with practice Ms Rose. If you take it seriously you can easily solve every problem with math. Including taking down Grimm, granted that's mainly applied through physics, which I highly recommend you take." Argenteus knew that she really wouldn't take his advice seriously, which saddened him, but anything to help out a student.

"Thanks Professor! I'll look into it." Ruby waved and smiled as she left the class.

Weiss and Jaune were waiting outside for her, as they usually do. "What'd Argent want with you, Ruby?" Jaune asked

"He was actually telling me that I should practice math more, and that it actually is useful for defeating Grimm if I were to apply physics." Ruby responded "As well as informing me that I should probably try to study more, Weiss…" She followed Weiss' name with a joking glare in her direction.

"What! It's not my fault. You could study by yourself, you know." Weiss said apologetically.

"Yeah I could but that's boring!" Ruby started skipping away expecting Weiss and Jaune to follow.

Jaune began to follow the slow skipping, but then realized he had made a promise to Pyrrha about practicing tonight. "Oh, sorry Ruby, I've got to go. Pyrrha wants to practice tonight and I made a promise, and you know how that goes."

Ruby turned around and laughed as she remembered the image of Jaune in a dress on the night of the dance. "Yeah! You shouldn't keep a lady waiting Jaune!"

"Say hi to Pyrrha for me, Jaune!" Weiss told him as she took off after Ruby. "Ruby I promise to help you study this time!"

"Will do. Stay out of trouble you two." Jaune mentioned while walking away. _Now how am I going to talk about my dream with Pyrrha. I don't even know what I was thinking when I promised to tell her. Maybe I should just lie..._ He thought this to himself as he was heading to his locker to grab his gear before going to the rooftop. He both loved and hated these rooftop escapades that she planned for them. He enjoyed them because he knew he was getting stronger and better at fighting through them, but they infuriated him because he disliked how he couldn't seem to win.

"We should probably head to the library and try to get some of this homework for our dust class done, and probably work on some of your math homework too Ruby." Weiss mentioned as she walked alongside her.

"But Weiss, I'm tired." Ruby whined while leaning onto Weiss.

"If we can get some of this work done, I'll make us hot cocoa, okay?"

"Yay! I promise I'll do my best!" Ruby stopped leaning on Weiss and resumed skipping down to the library.

Pyrrha was waiting on the roof. She was still hoping that Jaune would tell her what was going on with him. She sat there on the edge of the roof staring off at Ozpin's tower, when she heard the door open behind her "Jaune is that you?" She asked while mesmerized by the green glow of the tower.

Jaune slowly walked out of the door, slightly surprised by her alertness. "Oh hey Pyrrha. I didn't keep you waiting, did I?" He asked while moving over to sit next to her.

"Not for too long this time. I came up here to think actually. I wasn't expecting you for at least another ten minutes." she paused, looked over at him and asked "So are you going to tell me what's been bothering you today?"

"Honestly I was hoping you'd forgotten about it," he sighed and looked at the green light emanating off of the tower in the distance. "I really shouldn't be this bothered by it to be honest. I've just been having this recurring dream for the past week."

"Oh? So you've been having this dream for a week now? And you didn't think to tell any of us?" Pyrrha asked this series of questions incredulously. "Seriously Jaune, you really need to talk to us. We can help."

"I know you can help, but I didn't think it was that bad. It's just bothering me because I figured it would stop by now." Jaune shook his head and stared out at the night sky.

"Talking about the dream tends to help. Even if it's just getting it out of your head." Pyrrha rested her hand on his shoulder

"I just… I don't really know. It always starts in the same way, I'm in combat with someone and they slam their weapon, I think it's a mace, into my shield. I manage to block the first blow just fine, but they go for another, and I try to retaliate. My retaliation seems to change every night, but the end result is the same. I hear the weapon hit my shield and the snapping of my arm as it breaks." Jaune stared out at the sky and shuddered, "It's that sound. I can't get it out of my head and it just makes me sick to my stomach, it distracts me because of the pain that follows that wet snapping."

"Oh… I'm so sorry Jaune. I didn't realize… Do you want to just do Aura training tonight and skip the combat?" Pyrrha didn't want to cause him to think back to the dream. "Or we could head down and have some dinner with Ren and Nora…" _or by ourselves._

Jaune snapped back to reality, and quickly responded, "No I think that combat training would be better for me right now." _Maybe if I train that dream won't become a reality._ He stood up and walked back towards the door to get to more stable ground and pulled out his sword. Pyrrha followed him shortly afterwards and stood in front of him with Milo out in its sword form.

"You get to start this time." She murmured while looking at his form, making sure that he stayed in the correct stance. Jaune looked at her and contemplated his options knowing that he wasn't going to be pressured by her moving first. He raised his shield and started circling her as she did the same. He quickly hopped forward slashing towards her while moving his shield to allow for more freedom with his swing. Pyrrha reacted by raising her shield up to block it and swinging for his legs. Jaune lowered his shield and went for a feint by making an obvious pass at her open arm. Pyrrha pulled her arm back to avoid getting hit, but Jaune redirected the blade up towards her shoulder. Pyrrha felt the sharp steel sting against her skin, and reacted by swinging her leg towards his to knock him over. He remembered this trick from previous sessions and quickly hopped back. He raised his shield and held his sword to the side, back to how he was before the first slash.

"I finally got a hit on you." He let out a sigh of relief thinking back to the dream and how he might be able to avoid it.

"Never pause in the middle of a fight Jaune." Pyrrha said as she quickly rushed him with her shield to push him back and throw off his balance.

Her shield collided with his chest as the air in his lungs quickly exited. He didn't have much time to recover as her assault didn't stop there. Her sword raised to slash across his chest, and he barely got the shield up in time. Pyrrha used the impact of her sword on the shield to very quickly reset to a neutral position. Jaune felt the impact on his shield and immediately that sound from the dream entered his head.

"I forfeit." Jaune said absentmindedly, while letting his arms drop as he stared upwards into the sky.

"Are you okay Jaune? I didn't think that I would actually get through your Aura." Pyrrha put her weapons back in their sheathes as she moved towards him.

"Yeah, it's just that sound. The minute your sword hit my shield and I felt that tension it just wouldn't leave my ears." Jaune set his weapons down and tried to shake his head to clear it.

"I'm sorry... " Pyrrha looked at him wondering what she could do to help him.

"Let's just go grab some food and go to bed." Jaune slowly walked towards the door while still being absent. He was thinking back to classes and what all work he had to do before he could actually get sleep. "Oh man, I forgot about the paper I was supposed to write for Oobleck."

"I can try to help with it if you want." Pyrrha mentioned as she kept stride with Jaune as they headed back towards their team's dorm.

"Nah it's fine, I need the refresher for tactics." Jaune waved his hand as he said this. "Hey what do you think Ren made for dinner?"

"Probably pancakes, or waffles. I don't think Nora lets him make anything else." she laughed as she watched his hand thinking about just grabbing it.

They quickly arrived at their dorm and opened the door to see two plates of waffles with butter and syrup out next to them, along with a note saying that Ren and Nora had headed out to go see a movie in Vale and they'd be back late. It also said not to stay up for them.

"It looks like you were right." Jaune stated as he grabbed one of the plates and put the butter and syrup on both his waffles, stacking them as he grabbed a knife and fork and cut into the fluffy pastry.

Pyrrha wondered if Nora set this up so she and Jaune would be alone for dinner, but then quickly brushed that thought away as she realized that Nora probably just wanted to go watch the newest superhero movie. She silently grabbed her plate and moved over to her desk and methodically eating her food.

Jaune pulled out his history book and started writing up notes for Fabian tactics, quickly finishing up the two page essay for Oobleck's class. Shortly after he and Pyrrha moved to a communal desk to work on their math homework together.

"Hey Pyrrha?" Jaune asked after they had finished all their homework, laying in his bed.

"Yes Jaune?" She responded while doing maintenance on Milo.

"Do you think tomorrow I could hold your hand while we walk to class?"

Pyrrha's face flushed crimson and she fumbled over Milo resulting in it falling from her lap and bouncing off the floor. "I-I-I-I guess you could… I mean I'd really like it if you could." she stuttered out clearly flustered.

"Okay. Good night Pyrrha." Jaune smiled as he turned over and pulled his blankets over his body.

"Good night Jaune." She walked back over to her bed and slowly settled into sleep.


	2. The Violet Vindictus

"Ren! I want more pancakes!"

Jaune groggily rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up, hearing Nora's outcries echoing in JNPR's dorm. His eyes were greeted by pancakes being shoved into his lap.

"What?" Jaune mumbled while he grabbed the plate of pancakes and looked around.

"Pyrrha's waiting for you in the courtyard." Ren spoke while nodding to Jaune and handing him a plastic fork.

"Yeah, so hurry up and eat!" Nora bursted out as she shoved another pancake in her mouth. "Itsh not polite to keep a lady waiting!"

"Oh! Crap!" Jaune bolted upright and set the plate on his nightstand while trying to put on his uniform. He grabbed the plate on his way out of the dorm hurrying towards the courtyard.

Snow blanketed the ground, glistening in the morning sunlight. Cries of happiness echoed around the courtyard, preceding snowballs being flung across it. Snowforts adorned with roses stood on opposite sides of the courtyard, and snowmen were spread around the courtyard. The fountain had frozen over and seemed to be an accepted ceasefire area.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out his name from in front of the fountain. Her hair stood out in contrast to the dark grey of the fountain "Over here!"

Jaune waved at her as he walked over. He saw her hair drape around her shoulders, and stood stunned in front of her.

"It's going to be hard to walk to class if you're still eating." Pyrrha blushed and mumbled as she looked at Jaune.

"Wha?" Jaune shook his head while questioningly mumbling before looking down at his hands and seeing the pancakes. "Oh yeah." Jaune nodded and looked around for a place to sit down. Most of the benches were occupied by those using them as cover from snowballs. Jaune looked down at the pancakes again, and decided that he didn't need to sit to eat. He stabbed at the fluffy pastries and shoved it in his mouth hurriedly, prompting Pyrrha to giggle at the scene. He blushed, but decided that food was more important than his pride. He finished up the third pancake and walked over to throw away the disposable plate that Ren had given him. Returning to Pyrrha, he held out his hand. "I guess we should get to class."

"Mhmm" Pyrrha nodded and grabbed his hand.

"Ja—une!" Someone's voice cried out from behind them as they approached the doors to the lecture hall. Jaune turned around to see Ruby pulling Weiss over towards them while waving at him. Weiss looked like she was rather angry and holding back an urge to slap Ruby for doing so. "Hi! I was wondering if you and Pyrrha finished up the homework? and if I could maybe copy it?" Ruby pouted while looking at the two.

"We could've gotten it done this morning if you weren't so insistent on having a snowball fight and dragging half the campus into it." Weiss sighed and stomped her foot down, while wrapping her arm around Ruby's waist. "Either way, it would be fantastic if you coul..." Weiss trailed off noticing Pyrrha glaring at her and the couple holding hands. "Actually I think we can finish it up before class starts. Come on Ruby let's head to the library, maybe Blake can help us out."

"What? Why?" Ruby protested as Weiss dragged her away, winking at Pyrrha and smiling.

Pyrrha smiled as she leaned into Jaune while they walked into the lecture hall and towards the Applications of Dust class, "I hope Ruby and Weiss show up on time." She mumbled as they opened the door.

"Yeah, Ms. Lila is rather punctual." Jaune sighed while looking at the blackboard. The topic for the class was already written out and underlined "The properties and applications of water, or blue dust."

"Maybe we should save Weiss and Ruby's seats." Pyrrha mentioned as they walked towards a group of seats.

"That sounds like a good idea." Jaune saw that their normal seats were empty, and walked towards them gesturing for Pyrrha to follow. She sat down next to him and pulled out her notebook and pen, getting ready for class to start before resting her head on his shoulder.

The door opened shortly after she rested her head, and Lila quickly walked into the room, "Hello class, open to page 431 and we'll be studying the applications of water dust in multitudes of industries. To start the culinary indu—"

The door opened and closed quickly, as Ruby and Weiss both walked into class late.

"Ms Schnee, Ms Rose, why are you late to class?" Lila slammed her book shut and turned to face the two girls that walked in.

"I forgot to eat breakfast so I ran to grab some?" Weiss lied while removing her arm from around Ruby's waist.

"Apparently you forgot what time class started as well. Turn in your work and sit down. Ms Rose, please do the same." Lila rubbed the bridge of her nose while the girls moved to sit next to Jaune and Pyrrha. Lila sighed before continuing where she left off. "As I was saying, the culinary industry uses water dust to create water for recipes as well as drinking water…"

Ruby sat down, pulling out her notebook and sighing. "Lila's probably going to give me extra work. Anyways, how was your guys' morning? I heard Nora kicked you out of bed Jaune."

"Huh? Yeah. I promised to walk Pyrrha to class and I slept in too long." Jaune rubbed the back of his apologetically, "Did Blake manage to help you with the homework?"

"Yes she did, only in exchange for having us leave her and Yang to their date this evening." Weiss sighed while catching up in notes. "Oh, has JNPR gone on another mission? The deadline for the third one is coming up soon."

"Oh, I completely forgot" Pyrrha responded worriedly, "Is registration still open?"

"Not for team missions!" Ruby chirped cheerfully "But partner missions are still open. Maybe Weiss and I should go one on after finals…" Ruby trailed off looking over at Weiss.

"It could be a good way to make some money." Weiss thoughtfully said, before tapping her notes with her pen to grab Ruby's attention.

"... Blue dust is also highly sought after for it's versatility in creating different compounds, such as the combination of it and fire dust to create smoke covers, and it's use with wind dust to upset visibility in controlled areas. Remember class, the applications of any form of Dust are only limited by your aura and your own imagination. Homework is questions 30-71 on page 445. You are dismissed." Lila closed her book and walked over to the desk to focus on grading the homework.

"Come on Weiss! I wanna go make another snowman!" Ruby jumped up and started to drag Weiss out of her chair.

"Hold on Ruby let me pack my bag." Weiss sighed and shoved her notebook into her bag before standing up.

"Later guys!" Ruby waved at Jaune and Pyrrha before heading out.

"Hey Pyrrha, wait up. I could walk you to your next class." He proffered his hand to her because Pyrrha made him feel comfortable and calm.

"I'd love that." Pyrrha grabbed his hand "So what should we do for our new mission?" She thoughtfully asked him.

"I don't really know, an extermination mission would be pretty quick and easy, but a patrol mission would be safe and pretty laidback. Either one really." He responded after some deliberation.

"Alright, I'll go check the mission board after class tonight." Pyrrha stated while they navigated the hallways to her next class.

"Maybe after we could head down to Vale and get some dinner?" Jaune asked while he reached for the door to the classroom.

"That'd be delightful!" Pyrrha blushed as her voice bubbled out of her mouth. "I'll talk to you after class!" She leaned in and planted her lips on his cheek.

"Wha? Uh… yeah! I'll talk to you after class!" Jaune stammered out past his beaming smile. Oh crap now I have to make reservations...He absentmindedly walked to his next class.

Jaune didn't have many friends in this class, so he silently found a seat and sat while mulling over ideas for their dinner. We could go out to that steak place that Nora took us to when we celebrated our second mission. I don't think Pyrrha cared for that place much though, she kept looking like she wanted to run away. I wonder if she just doesn't like steak. Maybe I'll take her to th-.

"Good morning class! I trust you're all well!" Port's overly energetic entrance elicited a response from the entire class, who collectively shrugged and mumbled unenthusiastically. "Well then, today we'll be learning about the anatomy of your basic beowolf and boarbatusk. Most beowolves armor plates are developed around its joints and don't actually cover their vital organs. That reminds me of a young boy who actually managed to kill a beowolf by getting one lucky lunge towards its heart. Just because their armor isn't developed around their vitals does not mean that they are easy to kill though. Beowolves often hunt in packs and attack in turn to keep you from punishing any of them for misplaced strikes. The spikes that develop on older beowolves are usually developed on their forearms so they can run past hunters while still being a threat. Boarbatusk often rely on the same strategy but they are more armored. Their armor doesn't need to cover their vitals to be effective because they are primarily quadrupedal creatures that stay low to the ground. The spikes they develop are often on their back to further enhance their hit and run tactics. Extremely old boarbatusk usually have jagged spikes on their sides for the same reason that beowolves do. Unlike beowolves, boarbatusk don't often hunt in packs, and would rather hunt in pairs." Port handed out three pictures, two of which were theoretical vivisections of a beowolf and boarbatusk, and the third showed a rudimentary vivisection of a real beowolf. "I will be open for any questions, but answer the questions on page 457 by the end of class. There will be optional review sheets for the final on my desk. I highly recommend them." He paused, allowing the students to pull out their textbooks before launching into one of his stories. "Shortly after the Great War my village was harassed by neighboring nevermores…" Jaune tuned out the rest of the class while working on the problems that Port had assigned. Maybe she likes seafood more than steak. There's always The Violet Vindictus, Weiss said that they had some of the best salmon in town, but then again any place that Weiss classes as 'affordable' usually is pretty pricy. I think that's my best bet though. Jaune quickly remembering that he hadn't spent that much since their last mission. He finished up his work in class after 30 minutes. He walked up and grabbed a review sheet and looked over at Port who was still going on with his story.

"Professor Port?" Jaune asked meekly "Do you mind if I leave early? I have a call I need to make." He asked this while moving back to his seat.

"It's no problem at all Mr Arc. If you wish to hear this story in it's fullness, simply remind me next time you're in class and I'll be sure to catch you up." Professor Port jauntily replied and faux-saluted the boy.

"Thank you sir!" Jaune waved to him as he left. Once he was out of the classroom he looked at his scroll and looked up The Violet Vindictus. He called and the waiter informed him that they'd actually been low on customers for the past couple weeks. Cool, 10 minutes before class gets out. Argenteus might let his class out early too. Some hot cocoa sounds good… Oh wait Pyrrha would probably like one too. thinking that to himself, Jaune started to walk towards the cafeteria.

"Hey can I have two large hot cocoas? Thanks!" He quickly stated his order and handed the clerk money. With hot cocoa in hand Jaune started the walk to Argenteus' classroom so he could meet up with approached as Argenteus hurriedly walked down the hall, noticing the class slowly shambled out of the classroom. Jaune leaned against the wall giving the disgruntled students room to move to the hallway. He caught a glance of Pyrrha's stark red hair standing out against the discouraged crowd and walked over to her.

"I brought you some hot cocoa. Are you ready for history?" Jaune asked her as he handed her the drink.

"Of course I'm ready." Pyrrha said as she took the drink and reached for his hand.

"I managed to get us reservations for The Violet Vindictus. I wasn't sure what you like to eat because all we really have is waffles and pancakes."

"Well you made the right choice. Seafood is one of my favorites!" Pyrrha smiled as she rested her head on Jaune's shoulder while they walked to class. Oobleck's class was uneventful as was the rest of the day.

Pyrrha walked over to the mission board after her classes had finished for the day and saw one labeled 'Extermination/Patrol. Start time 42:34:15." She checked it for more details, such as the surrounding area and any abnormalities in recent observation. A recorded video of a faunus man popped up on screen and started playing.

"The Grimm in this area have been moving strangely and they seem like they're being ordered by some external force. The ursai and beowolves are working together to attack local animals and clear out areas of flora. They seem to slowly be making their way towards a settlement out here." Grimm don't often attack local creatures, much less in organized strikes. She immediately signed up for the mission, with Jaune automatically being filled in as her partner. She pulled out her scroll and checked to make sure the mission info was downloaded to it.

Jaune was sitting in the dorm looking at his outfits that laid on his bed. He had trouble remembering what he should wear to the restaurant. He thought about just calling Weiss and figuring out what the dress code for this place was, but Ruby would probably want to make it a double date. A beep from his scroll drew his attention, so he pulled it out of his pocket and saw the latest mission summary. Extermination and patrol afterwards, thought as Nora skipped into the dorm. "Hey Nora."

"Hey Jaune! What's the occasion?" She pranced over to him and stopped, looking at the clothes that were laid out on the bed.

"I asked Pyrrha to dinner and we're going to The Violet Vindictus, because I remember Weiss recommending it. I can't remember what the dress code was though".

"Oh. Why don't you call Weiss and ask her?" Nora asked while still staring at the clothes.

"If I call Weiss then she'll tell Ruby, and Ruby will want to make it a double date." Jaune paused and removed two of the outfits off his bed. "Those ones looked bad." He explained while checking his scroll again. "Which of these do you like Nora?" He asked while gesturing towards the bed.

"I think this one looks good!" Nora pointed to one and stepped over to her bed to flop onto it.

"Alright thanks." Jaune said while grabbing the clothes and moving over to the changing room.

"Hey Nora." Pyrrha walked in and opened the closet. "Did you and Ren ever go on another mission?"

"I forgot! Are mission registrations still open?" Nora sat up and frowned.

"Partner missions are. Weiss reminded me today" Pyrrha smiled as she spoke to reassure Nora. Pyrrha reached into the closet and grabbed the dress that she wore to the dance.

"Thanks! Do you want some help with your makeup for the date?" Nora sprung up out of bed with a beaming smile.

"I would love some help with my makeup. I really need to sit down and have you teach me how to do it." Pyrrha set the dress on her bed, and pulled a chair out setting it in front of Nora.

Jaune walked back into the room, wearing a gray blazer over a red dress shirt. A crimson tie hung loosely around his neck. He noticed Pyrrha and sat on his bed while fumbling with his tie. "So Pyrrha? This mission you signed us up for, Extermination and patrol?"

"It's an odd mission. Check the details on it." She said this while Nora applied foundation.

"Oh really?" Jaune pulled out his scroll to double-check the mission info. 'Extermination, patrol afterwards for 2 weeks. Start: 42:53:23. Details on area next page.' He swiped the screen to tab over to page 2, 'Area: Northwestern quadrant of Vale, Heavy forest leading to a dusty area covered in chaparral, forest area is heavily infested with ursai and beowolves, chaparral is filled with boarbatusks. Huntsman are advised to only clear out forest area, using trees to provide shelter. Video explaining request for help on page 3' Jaune once again swiped the screen, intrigued by Pyrrha's mention of it being odd. The video started up and Jaune watched it all the way through. It played over his speakers so Nora also heard it.

"Weird." Nora stated, as she applied the finishing touches to Pyrrha's mascara. "All done!"

"It is weird. Something feels off about this mission" Jaune said while standing up, managing to finish tying his tie. He walked over to the door "Hey Pyrrha, I'm going to go ask Ruby about something real quick. I'll meet you in the courtyard in about ten minutes."

"Alright Jaune, see you then." Pyrrha stood up, grabbing her dress as she walked over to the changing room.

Jaune walked out of his dorm and stepped across the hall to knock on RWBY's dorm. He knocked on the door and heard the clattering of feet. "Blake, if I find scratches on my pants again, you're going to pay for them." Jaune heard this through the door, and had to keep himself from imagining what prompted that statement. Yang opened the door and given her disheveled look, Jaune assumed he interrupted something important. "Oh hey Jaune, Ruby and Weiss went out to the courtyard." She assumed he had wanted something with the other half of her team.

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Yang. Sorry for interrupting." Jaune apologized while walking towards the courtyard. The evening sunset cast orange light over the courtyard, foreboding shadows stretching from the forts that stood resolute. Jaune's appreciation of this scene was cut short by a snowball hitting him.

"Sorry!" a voice cried out from one of the forts and a flash of red appeared as Ruby popped her head out.

"Hey Ruby, mind taking a break?" Jaune shouted so she would hear him.

"Nah!" Ruby shouted back as a snowball went flying past her face "Weiss, timeout!" She skipped over to where he was standing. "What's up?"

"I uh, was wondering if you could help me with something?" Jaune asked.

"Sure? Whaddya need help with?" Ruby cocked her head while looking quizzically at him while Weiss walked over.

"I've got dinner with Pyrrha tonight and I had two questions. Does this look decent and do you have any tips?"

"I think you look fine, and I really don't know what you want me to tell you." She shrugged as she fixed the collar on his blazer. "Weiss? Do you want the chime in?"

"You actually look great Jaune. Where are you taking her though?" Weiss looked him over before making a statement, and asked him her question while grabbing Ruby's hand.

"I'm actually taking her to The Violet Vindictus, based on your recommendation." Jaune said while dusting the snow off of his jacket. "I was just wondering what I should talk about though."

"Just be yourself Jaune. She already likes you so you really don't need to doubt yourself that much." Ruby let out a sigh as she said it, pouting before continuing, "I wish you'd told me earlier. Weiss and I were just talking about what to do for dinner." She lightly punched Jaune in the shoulder. "Anyways I have a score to settle with my snow angel here. Maybe we'll see you in Vale." Ruby waved to Jaune and ran back over to her fort.

"Good luck Jaune!" Weiss said before she started walking back to her fort.

Jaune stood and watched them fire volleys at each other before hearing the door open behind him. He thought that the snowballs flying through the air were quite beautiful. "Jaune?" A voice behind him questioningly said his name. "Are you ready to go?" He turned around to see Pyrrha wearing a glimmering red dress that stood out against the pale grey of the building.

"I… uh… I mean yeah, I'm ready to go." He held out his hand. Pyrrha took his hand as they walked through the courtyard. Snowballs stopped flying through the air as the two girls gave a courteous nod to the couple before moving to restock their supply. Jaune's face was plastered with a beaming smile as he led Pyrrha down to Vale, reaching to pull out his scroll to find directions. Jaune's thoughts drifted back to his dream as they neared the restaurant. What if it wasn't just a dream? He opened the door and held it for Pyrrha.

"Good evening." A deep voice echoed out from the front desk, as a massive man greeted them. "Do you have reservations?" The man asked them while looking around for menus, the dimly lit room making it difficult for Jaune to see much.

"Uh yeah, they should be under Arc, for two." Jaune spoke up as he looked around, seeing empty tables almost everywhere. He turned his attention to the front desk, noticing the man moving about, and then promptly noticing the large mace hanging off of the desk itself. Jaune's eyes widened as he froze.

"Ah, there they are." The man muttered to himself as he looked up and walked out from behind the desk, "If you would follow me, I'll show you to your seats." The man's voice broke Jaune out of his waking nightmare. "Sorry for the delay," he apologized while Pyrrha and Jaune sat down, "It's my first day on the job, I'm still trying to figure out where everything is. Can I get you two anything to drink?"

"Water for me," Pyrrha responded while she opened the menu that he laid in front of her.

"Uh, yeah water please." Jaune absentmindedly spoke, while opening the menu and focusing intently on it, trying to shake the memory of his dream.

"Alright, two waters. My name is Mavro and I'll be waiting on you today. I'm just going to go grab those waters and I'll be right back." Mavro walked away to leave the two to talk.

"The seared salmon looks really good." Pyrrha was looking at the menu, "What do you think Jaune?"

"Hmm? Yeah sure. Looks great. Does our waiter look familiar to you?" Jaune asked while still hollowly staring at the menu.

"No, he doesn't. Why?" Pyrrha looked at him quizzically.

"I've been having thoughts about that dream." Jaune paused as he saw Mavro walking back over. "But the seared salmon does look good, I think a nice green salad would go well with it."

Mavro walked over and set the glasses on the table. Jaune noticed that Mavro was wearing leather gloves, with an embossed sigil, consisting of a shield with a snake wrapped around it. "Ah sorry, I can remove them if they make you uncomfortable." Mavro noticed Jaune staring at his gloves.

"No don't worry about it." Jaune looked up and weakly smiled at Mavro, "Though I am curious as to where that symbol came from."

"Ah, it's an old family crest. What can I get you two for dinner? I'd highly recommend the grilled sturgeon with a side of caesar salad." Mavro stood at the end of the table holding a tablet and pencil.

"I'm going to have the seared salmon, and if I could just get a small salad on the side." Pyrrha was the first to place her order.

"I'll take the same." Jaune followed Pyrrha's order, realizing that he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to actually observe the menu.

"Alright so two seared salmon, and two salads. Any garnishes that you want?" Mavro wrote down their order and looked questioningly at them.

"Uhm, just some lemon on the salmon for me." Jaune asked for it remembering Weiss mentioning it was good on fish.

"Me too." Pyrrha said while smiling at Jaune.

"Alright then. Two seared salmon with lemon. Do you guys want anything to drink? We have a fabulous selection of wines…. Oh wait you two are probably underage." He chuckled, "We do have juice and soda if you guys want some."

"I'm fine with water. Pyrrha do you want anything?" Jaune impatiently answered.

"Water's fine. Oh if you could just bring the salad and salmon at the same time that'd be fantastic."

"Yeah. It'll be about 10 minutes, sorry for the wait." Mavro walked away, rather confused at his customers turn of attitude.

Jaune waited until he was confident that Mavro was out of earshot and then worriedly looked over at Pyrrha, "That mace at the front desk reminds me of the one in my dream."

"It could just be a coincidence, Jaune, but we can leave if you want." Pyrrha locked eyes with him, and realized that he was truly unsettled. "Other than the mace, does anything else here remind you of the dream?"

"Not particularly…" Jaune shook his head to try and recenter his thoughts. Could Mavro be the one attacking me in my dream? He doesn't seem like he would."Either way, I'll try and focus on dinner from now on?" He reached across the table and grabbed Pyrrha's hand and gave it a small squeeze. Jaune took a deep breath and tried to clear his head. I'm out to dinner with a beautiful girl and all I can think about is my own dream. Jaune stood up to step over and sit next to Pyrrha, thinking that being close to her would help him focus on dinner and her. He focused on his breathing to calm himself while Pyrrha rested her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry to interrupt" Mavro's voice jolted Jaune back to reality as the man walked over holding their food. "Turns out the chefs were working fast tonight, so enjoy. you guys are our only customers tonight, so dessert is on the house. When you want to pay just wave and I'll come over." He set the plates down on the table and walked away.

Jaune stared at the plate of food in front of him, stunned. He had never seen food so excellently presented before. He picked up a fork and stabbed into it realizing that he was extremely hungry. The fish tenderly fell apart as Jaune pulled at it with his fork. He felt a desire to devour the meat in front of him but held back so he could enjoy it. Pyrrha sat up to eat as well. They ate in silence, both choosing to focus on the food instead of attempting to revive the conversation. Mavro showed up after some time had passed to drop off a dessert menu.

"What do you think Pyrrha? Should we order dessert?" Jaune leaned back and exhaled, satisfied and stuffed from the meal.

"The fudge milkshake does look really good." Pyrrha pointed to the picture of it.

"I mean he said it was free so we should probably order something, even if we want to just take it home with us." Jaune sat up and looked at the menu. "Though I will admit that milkshake looks delicious. Let's order it to go."

Mavro wrote down the order and walked over to hand it to the chef before returning. "He said it shouldn't take that long. Once again, thank you so much for coming." Jaune sat up and just handed Mavro his card to pay for the dinner, "What? Oh yeah I'll take care of that right now."

"Thanks Mavro. The service was excellent, and the food was even better." Pyrrha spoke up as she leaned back over resting her head on Jaune's shoulder.

Their milkshake turned up quickly, and Jaune calmly grabbed it. With milkshake in hand, Pyrrha and Jaune eagerly stepped out into the cold of the winter night. Street lamps powered by igneous dust gave off light and heat, melting the snow around the lamps and illuminating the way for those still in Vale. The town was silent, save for the crunching of snow underneath feet as unfortunate people walked home from work. Jaune and Pyrrha had stopped underneath a lamp to try and warm up a bit. "I completely forgot to bring a jacket." Jaune noted as he stopped underneath the lamp, shivering. Pyrrha just nodded as she huddled closer to the lamp and tried to warm herself up. Jaune noticed her shivering and tried to position himself to block most of the wind from buffeting her chilling her further. "I'm sorry that this walk is so terribl-" His words were quickly cut off as she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

Pyrrha quickly broke off the kiss and blushed, "I'm sor-" She started to apologize before he wrapped her in his arms and rested his chin on her head.

"Nothing to apologize for Pyrrha. Let's get home to where it's warm before we freeze." Jaune couldn't stop from smiling as he grabbed her hand and began to pull her along.

The rest of the walk was rather tranquil. The moon lit up the rooftops and sent shadows dancing across the ground, as the stars lit the cosmos allowing for a brilliant scene to those who wished to look at them and hope.


End file.
